DAVID MOYES today paid tribute to Everton's fighting spirit - then urged his players to keep up the good work as they continue their climb up the table.

Having let his squad know exactly how dismayed he was by their attitude in the 4-0 drubbing at West Brom, Blues boss Moyes was thrilled with the way Everton bounced back against Newcastle on Sunday.

Everton have now won three of their last four games and slowly but surely are creeping away from the danger zone and will be looking to give themselves even more breathing space at Blackburn Rovers this Saturday.

"The players knew what was required," Moyes reflected. "It was severely lacking the week before. Only when you look at that performance compared to West Brom do you realise how below par we were at West Brom.

"Fair play to the players because they made sure they put it right by doing the right things. I said to them that they had to come away by the end of the game and make sure it was noticeable they were hurting.

"All our supporters will have gone away saying that they had seen the players fight for everything and were desperate to compete. That's something that we have always got to have in our game.

"We want to improve our football and we are desperate to make that better. It should never mean that you drop your level of commitment but you could see against Newcastle that they were right back at it."

Apart from the resilience they showed last Sunday, Moyes was especially pleased with the quality of Everton's football, particularly in the second half when they fashioned a handful of chances.

That they didn't take them, though, was an obvious concern - as it has been all season - but the manager feels that if they keep applying themselves in the same manner in the weeks ahead, the rewards will come.

"The players gave themselves a base to play from," Moyes added. "They worked hard to earn those opportunities. We got in behind them, we probably made more chances against Newcastle than we have all season, though we didn't take them.

"It could have been 3-2. We needed Nigel to make a couple of great saves in the first half and then in the second half, Shay Given makes a couple of great saves, too. In the main, we were pleased with the way the game went. It was a hard game."

Moyes, meanwhile, was monitoring the fitness of Nuno Valente (hamstring), Mikel Arteta (knee) and Duncan Ferguson (illness) after his squad assembled for training at Bellefield this morning.